Meet Janine Gard.

Hey there, if we haven’t met yet, I’m Janine Gard - a Diploma Qualified Birth Educator (I qualified in 2005 through Aoraki Polytechnic), Founder and Director of Bellies to Babies Antenatal and Postnatal Classes.

During the 19 years of facilitating antenatal and postnatal education I’ve taught over 5500 people!

I’m also an artist, a writer, lover of flowers and plants. Most importantly, I am a Mum to two pretty cool humans- 19 and 20 years old.

So, I understand what it's like to be pregnant, give birth and all the stages our kiddies go through - being excited one minute and worried the next!

Perhaps you’re wondering why do I do, what I do (and for so long), first and foremost, because I love it!

I can’t imagine waking each day, getting up and going to a job where I don’t want to be - how draining!

Instead, I wake up each day and think, WOW, I get to meet, connect and chat with people and parents, share my knowledge and empower families to make the right choices for them, ease a few fears, worries and concerns, answer loads of questions (curly ones included) and generally have fun, what’s not to love!

When I had my daughter, it was an eventful labour and birth, I had to make a lot of important and crucial decisions where I felt unheard and overwhelmed. Luckily, my LMC was amazing, supporting and guiding me throughout. About 24 hours after the birth, I had a ‘light bulb’ moment and I knew I had to change my career and become a Midwife (I’d been a Florist for 11 years prior). Circumstances at the time meant this was impossible so I looked around to see if there was anything else in the same industry. Pregnancy, Birth & Parenting Education popped up on my screen and I was hooked from that moment!

​Along with my qualification in Birth Education, I am also a Safe Sleep Champion, Le Leache League Breastfeeding Peer Support, an Internationally Certified Infant Massage Instructor and I'm also the Founder and Creative Director for Earth Friendly Cocoons - handcrafted biodegradable cocoons for the burial of your Placenta, Cremated Ashes and Angel Babies, oh and I also written 100+ articles for the NZ Herald regarding pregnancy, labour, birth and parenting. I’ve had several articles in Pregnancy and Parenting Magazines and other leading NZ magazines.

I attend workshops, study days, lectures online seminars, read research papers, and personal development forums and keep up with current trends and medical practices within the prenatal, antenatal and postnatal periods.

I consider training, up-skilling, personal development, business development and learning new tools and possibilities, essential to delivering the best service to my clients that I can.

Phew, if you’ve got to the bottom, you’ve learned a little bit about me and my amazing life!

I look forward to meeting you soon.

Take care, chat soon.
​Janine x